PRO/CON: Should Kountze ban the chaining of dogs?

ENTERPRISE OPINIONS

Published 12:00 am, Monday, April 26, 2010

OUR VIEW: Kountze should ban chaining of dogs

Kountze can strike a long-overdue blow against animal cruelty by becoming the first city in the region to ban the practice of chaining or tethering dogs outside. That's a cruel, outmoded way of keeping pets and it should go the way of organized dog fights.

Dogs are social animals, and they need space to move. Chaining them in one spot without any companionship is simply mean. When that practice includes exposure to rain, cold or heat, it is worse.

Anyone who wants a dog should provide a fenced yard or at least a large pen. Even an overhead trolley attachment is better, though not a lot.

Some people are too stupid or lazy to treat pets and livestock properly. Public officials cannot ignore this abuse. It's bad for the animals, and it misleads children who see these conditions to think of them as normal.

If this new law causes some people to give up their dogs, it's probably the best thing that could happen to both of them.

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ANOTHER VIEW: Stop meddling in pet owners' lives

The do-gooders who are rushing to "improve" Kountze need to slow down and read state law. It already bans the outside tethering of dogs between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and during extreme weather.

Those requirements address the worst problems with this practice. If a dog has food, water and shelter during the day while it is chained - maybe only for a few hours - only a PETA looney would describe those conditions as cruel.

The proposed change in Kountze would go far beyond state law and ban tethering entirely. That's an unjustified intrusion into the rights of pet owners.

Not everyone can afford a fenced yard. And frankly, putting a dog in a small pen or attaching it to a trolley is hardly more humane than chaining it to a tree out back.

City officials should stop trying to micromanage an issue that has little to do with city government. People have been tying up dogs for years, and both have survived nicely.